Saturday, July 29, 2017

Forgotten Bolsheviks: The Warning Signs of Fascism on Campus

Paul Fromm, Canada’s most prominent white supremacist

Over the past several years, Toronto has seen a rise in far right organizing—most notably the Soldiers of Odin, PEGIDA, and the Proud Boys. Likewise, university and college campuses have also been experiencing a rise in right-wing politics.

Students in Support of Free Speech (founded at the University of Toronto) has been in the media due to their committed support of Jordan Peterson, professor, high-rolling Patreon fundraiser, and opponent of protections for trans people. This support, and their regular work with the Proud Boys, Rebel Media, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, et al., has cast this burgeoning student group as the training ground for the future far right in the eyes of many.

However, SSFS in the past week has been consumed with responding to a controversy surrounding notable neo-Nazi, Paul Fromm.

Fresh off of a spate of media attention from the white nationalist memorial for lawyer Barbara Kulazska at the Richview Library in Toronto, Fromm spoke at a SSFS rally for the so-called “Halifax Five” (five disgraced military members who, as members of the Proud Boys, decided to disrupt an Indigenous ceremony in Halifax on Canada Day). SSFS members now claim that Fromm should never have been allowed to speak at their event (or, at least use their megaphone), while supporters of Fromm’s attack them online over their false claims of misrepresentation (more...)

Campus ideologues have conveniently forgotten that the Nazis emerged from the National Bolsheviks. These were far more common in my college milleau than the hyperventilation-inducing Red Stalinists. And, they still manage to garner some press: